Pennsylvania's Years-Long Opioid Disaster Declaration Ends
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Pennsylvania's years-long opioid disaster declaration is ending on Wednesday.
While the opioid disaster declaration has been renewed every 90 days since Jan. 2018, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in May now limits declarations to just 21 days and then requires legislative approval to continue. Wolf says the General Assembly declined to extend it.
While the disaster declaration is over, Wolf says the fight against the opioid crisis isn't and his administration will continue to prioritize it.
Wolf says the "isolation and disruption" caused by the pandemic has caused an increase in substance use disorder and overdose deaths. More than 5,100 people died last year.
